HIGHER EDUCATION: Dubious distinction

Book ranks UND high in
unflattering areas, but school gains solace in making publication: 'The Best 331
Colleges'

By David Dodds
Herald Staff Writer

A nationally published guidebook on college life has
included UND as one of the top colleges in the country, but when it comes to
student assessments, the rankings weren't quite so flattering.

The 2002 edition of Princeton Review's "The Best 331 Colleges" ranked UND in
the top 20 in four of 62 categories, including a No. 1 distinction. The titles
of those categories, however, wouldn't be high on any college recruiter's list
of sales pitches.

According to the New York-based Princeton Review and its scientific survey of
200 students at each ranked college, UND came in No. 1 for having the most
unavailable faculty, No. 7 for worst library, No. 7 for student dissatisfaction
with financial aid, and No. 12 for worst food.

The categories aren't exactly worded like that in the book or on the
Princeton Review Web site. They instead have more clever headings, such as
"Professors make themselves scarce," "This is a library?" and "Is it food?"

Not all negative

Not all of the categories listed in the book would be considered negative.
There are many with which schools would be proud to be associated; but UND isn't
considered to be top-20 material in any of those.

John Ettling, vice president of academic affairs and provost at UND, said he
doesn't put a whole lot of stock in such rankings, be they good or bad.

"I have not seen the report, but I would invite anyone from the Princeton
Review to come back out here to UND and see all of the students and faculty in
offices and all of the interaction that is going on here," Ettling said,
particularly about UND's ranking on faculty availability. "Whenever these
rankings come out and we are ranked close to the top or the bottom, I take them
with a grain of salt. I don't know any other way to take them."

Ettling said his daughter works for Princeton Review out of the company's
offices in Minneapolis.

"I'm going to have to give her a call and see what's going on," he said
jokingly.

'Cream of crop'

Erik Olson, editor of "The Best 331 Colleges," said UND officials shouldn't
take its rankings too hard. In fact, he said, just to be included in the
publication means the school is among the "cream of the crop."

"UND is an excellent university with a great aviation school," Olson said.
"Students come from all over to enroll there."

Olson said what makes his book more meaningful than other college guides is
that student opinions are foremost in calculating the rankings. Olson said
results detailed in the book are the fruits of the largest ongoing survey ever
done on college students and their assessments of colleges, some 65,000
responses from students at more than 3,000 colleges.

"The reason why ours is the best is that it's the only one based on student
opinions," he said. "This is not Princeton Review's opinion. This is how
students feel right now about these aspects of student life. We're just the
messengers."

Olson said any school listed in the book, no matter how they rank in any of
the categories, should take solace in that they represent the top 10 percent of
colleges in the country.

Select company

Indeed, UND is in select company when it comes to making the list. It is the
only four-year college in North Dakota and South Dakota in the book. Only the
University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, St. John's University and Macalester
join UND in the book as regional representatives.

Some of the other categories listed in the book, but in which UND did not
crack the top 20, include best and worst party schools, most accepting of gay
community, best college town, and the most and least politically-active schools,
just to name a just few.

This is the 10th year that Princeton Review has compiled a list of the best
331 colleges. Olson said it has always been one of the company's best selling
publications.

The 2002 version of the book has been released, and it can be ordered from
the Princeton Review Web site at www.review.com or at other computer sites, such
as Amazon.com.